TEKULA: SUBJECT ZERO

CHAPTER FOUR

"THIS PLACE IS HELL," Quinn says into the phone.

Spencer chuckles at her words. "It can't be that bad, Harmy."

"There's no Wi-Fi."

"Oh."

Quinn flops onto her back, her matress bouncing with the sudden weight of her body. It's been three days since she arrived, and she is ready to die of boredom.

Of the three days she has been in Alaska, she has only seen her father twice. Once in the evening of the second day, and once this morning. His absence is something she is used to, but his behavior, however, was quite abnormal.

"What are you doing?" Quinn asked.

Henry set the last box of his old office papers into his room. He stood, turning around to face his daughter's expression of curiosity. He wishes, once more, that she would just mind her own business.

"Nothing that concerns you," he replies sourly, going back to his unpacking.

Quinn hesitantly steps forward, attempting to look over her father's shoulder at the contents of the box.

Henry abruptly closes the lid, turning around to glare at his nosey daughter. "Why can't you listen to me for once? I said this doesn't concern you, Harmony."

Not bothering to give her any further explanation, he quickly ushers her from the room and closes the door in her face.

Quinn is startled by the click of the door locking. She wonders if he is just being moody, or if she really wasn't supposed to see what was in the box.

She wonders why he would be so secretive of only a few hand-written notes titled THE TEKULA PROJECT.

"You still there, Quinn?" Spencer says, removing her from the flashback.

"What? Yeah, sorry; zoned out a little," she replies.

"Alright, well, the guys are here, so I better go."

"Okay," she says, trying to cover up her disappointment. "Text me later, yeah?"

"I will," is all he says before his voice disappears from the other side.

Quinn presses the End Call button and tosses her phone onto the pillow beside her. She was taken away from her entire life only to homeschool herself while her dad ignores her existence.

Her thoughts drift to what he could possibly be doing. It seems the only things out here are the housing and giant bunker. Could he be working in the bunker? The thing was heavily guarded and looked way too small to hold anything of significance, but the armoured men and steel door say otherwise.

Quinn sits up abruptly, her gaze falling to the business card on her nightstand. Her dad gave it to her in case she ever needed anything. Of course, she couldn't call him, but she could call someone else. Quinn internally scoffs.

She picks up the small piece of paper. A phone number is printed clearly onto the stationary, the black numbers standing out against the white. Quinn types the number into her phone, hesitating only a moment before calling the unknown number.

*

Private Joseph Parker sighs, pinching his nose between his thumb and forefinger. When he had been given the orders to be a personal guard for Dr. Vanderwall's daughter, Quinn was not what he was expecting.

"What is the point of having an underground bunker full of secret stuff if we can't even go in it?" she says, sitting on the couch and crossing her arms like a petulant child.